The Teaching of Phra Paisal Visalo

The Teaching of Phra Paisal Visalo 

This is a very good teaching by Ajaan Paisal. 

Many a times, I have seen Buddhists who have practiced for many years, giving a lot of dana, keeping precepts and meditating, yet they quarrel over minor things such as sectarian or doctrinal differences. 

A couple went to a Dhamma talk, but the husband forgot to turn off his phone. While the Phra Ajaan was preaching, the husband's mobile phone rang out very loudly. The monks and people who were attending the sermon all turned to stare and frown at him. After the Dhamma talk had ended, some people came forward to scold the couple, for having poor manners and not obeying the rule of Noble Silence, causing others to be distracted. In the car on the ride back home, the husband was scolded fiercely by his wife.

As he was unhappy with the events that transpired, he went to the bar to get a drink. He kept thinking about what happened earlier, got distracted and dropped the beer bottle. It smashed on the ground and shattered everywhere. He thought he would be scolded again but on the contrary, the people there were all asking whether he was okay, and whether he was cut. Some people wiped the table with a cloth. Some of them took some brooms to sweep up the bits of glass and mopped the floor. The manager brought him another bottle of beer and said that “Mistakes happen, but please be more careful in the future."

Since then, this man stopped going to the temple, but turned to the bar instead. Because he received the companionship, kindness and generosity from the people at the bar more than the devotees who enter the temple. Even though people who go to the temple should have metta and be considerate, and practice forgiveness, more so than people at the bar, but the opposite is true.

Therefore, Buddhists must not be so obsessed with minor rules and observances until they forget to be magnanimous. Remember, there is no human who will not make mistakes. We should not make mountains out of molehills, or quarrel over small matters. Because we will push people out of the temple, and instead of them coming here to listen to the Dhamma and sharpen their minds, we are causing people to turn their backs on Buddhism. Righteousness is not about keeping rules strictly, but about understanding and kindness to one another.

Phra Paisal Visalo

Wat Pasukato

Chaiyaphum Province